Middle East Near You

Israeli commentator: ‘The deal of the century’ for Trump. What role for Bin Salman?

US President Donald Trump with the Crown Prince of Saudi Muhammad Bin Salman (R) [file photo]

May 7, 2017 at 2:41 pm

A prominent Israeli commentator has offered a view about “the deal of the century” that is being promoted by US President Donald Trump as the formula for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Amir Oron believes it is very likely that Trump will propose a solution for the conflict by involving Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. He points out that this proposal is influenced by the fact that Trump is a businessman with experience in real estate.

In an article published by Haaretz and translated by Arabi 21, Oron says that Trump may exploit the enthusiasm shown by Prince Muhammad bin Salman, the Saudi Deputy Crown Prince who is ambitious to sit on the throne, to confront Iran. Trump is said to be prepared to offer the Prince the services of the United States in exchange for playing a role in concluding the deal.

He also points out that as part of the deal, Saudi Arabia may allow Egypt to have a foothold along the eastern coast of the Red Sea so as to assuage the public outrage in Egypt in the aftermath of the decision by Egyptian President Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi to hand over the islands of Sanafir and Tiran to Saudi Arabia.

Oron goes on to say that as part of this deal, Egypt will concede an area in the north of Sinai to be annexed to the Gaza Strip where a Palestinian state will be established.

According to this vision, Israel’s contribution to the land exchange deal will involve annexing the big settlements in the West Bank in exchange for granting the Palestinian state a piece of land that is equivalent to the area occupied by those settlements.

Oron explained that Tel Aviv will decide which lands it is willing to concede as part of the land exchange deal and the Palestinian Authority will have to accept whatever is being offered to it.

The vision offered by Oron is different from the regional settlement preferred by Israel for resolving the conflict with the Palestinian people.

It is worth mentioning that the Israeli Minister of State, Ayyub Qura – who is a Druz, claimed prior to the recent visit by Netanyahu to Washington that he was going to discuss with Trump an offer by Sisi to allow the creation of a Palestinian State in Northern Sinai.

Qura pointed out at the time that unlike Oron’s vision, Sisi’s proposal guarantees that Israel will keep the entire West Bank for itself.

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